What Fifteen Hours of Singing in Three Days Does to a Student (the lab experiment)

Four REAL gongs guaranteed.

    This past weekend has given "intensity" a whole new meaning for the Men's and Women's Chorus.  We are preparing to sing Krzysztof Penderecki's "Seven Gates of Jerusalem" with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.  The piece is an hour long - to give you an idea of scale, the WSO is bringing no less than four gongs to the performance (along with a plethora of other instruments!)  The piece was originally commissioned for the city of Jerusalem, consists entirely of bible verses spoken in Latin, and sounds like a bomb going off (the music, not the Latin.  The Latin is just confusing!)
     For anyone who is also involved in the Mikado opera, this makes the entire weekend intense.  I sung for fifteen hours last weekend, which pretty much makes me a temporary music student.  Joining us are a number of volunteers, bringing the entire number up to something monstrous and ensuring that we really will destroy something (or someone) when we perform it on February 4th.

                     

           Our fearless leaders.

    Rudy Schellenberg and Janet Brenneman are our fearless leaders, and they are doing their jobs well.  But you must understand what we are up against - the choir is divided at times to twelve separate parts, so basically everyone is singing something different, and no amount of cookies can disguise the fact that aren't always sure what these Latin words mean (despite the translations).  
    Never fear - it's challenging, but we are working hard and we shall prevail!  The performance will be something to remember - I can guarantee it.  I'd suggest that you book Friday February 4th off, and get to the Centennial Concert Hall for 8pm.
     Oh, and what does fifteen hours of singing do to a student over the weekend?  At least one person I talked to told me she couldn't sleep because "one-two-tee, one-two tee, one-two-tee" was stuck in her head all night.  In fact, some of the only people who were just fine (and even found the entire experience enjoyable) were music students.  
     Figures, doesn't it?